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Holding My Fire

By The New York Times and Frank Bruni June 16, 2006 2:30 pmJune 16, 2006 2:30 pm

Fleur de Sel, left, and Masa, right, both charge no-shows a penalty.
(Photos by Steve Hart for The New York Times and Lars Klove for The New York Times)

In response to my recent “Power Games” post about frustrating conversations with restaurant reservationists and annoying experiences with reservations, a reader rightly asked why I chose not to “single out the culprits,” meaning restaurants that had booked private parties and then wiped accepted dinner reservations off the books.

I didn’t because it’s my sense that I could have had this kind of experience with any of dozens of restaurants and I didn’t want to beat up disproportionately on the ones that just happened to be in my path. But I think there’s a service to be done in flagging the sin even if I’m not flogging the sinners.

Also, I didn’t want to slam them for one thing when I hadn’t had a chance to fully appraise them.

As for some of the other comments that the post prompted, I agree that it’s rude in the extreme to make multiple reservations and keep all of them in play until the last possible minute. But if it’s a matter of one excess reservation and that reservation is canceled two days beforehand, it doesn’t strike me as such a horrible thing.

Yes, some restaurants require that reservations be held with a credit card, which is charged a certain amount — a penalty fee — if a party doesn’t cancel by a certain time or just doesn’t show up.

The restaurant Fleur de Sel in the Flatiron district, for example, requires that Friday and Saturday night reservations be held with a credit card, but it allows such reservations to be canceled free of charge up to the actual reservation times. If diners with a reservation don’t show, the credit card is charged $25 per person in the reservation group — $100, for example, for a reserved table for four.

The restaurant Masa, where a prix fixe dinner is $350 before drinks, tax or tip, levies a penalty if a reservation is canceled less than 48 hours in advance or if diners don’t show. In the case of Masa, which is in the Time Warner Center, the penalty is $100 per person.

Masa’s policy strikes me as a tad severe — why not 24 hours? But I think the practice of charging no-shows a penalty is fair, at least in the cases of fancy restaurants that don’t have the kind of walk-in business that can make up for unclaimed tables.

Similarly, I understand and sympathize with the relatively common practice of asking diners reserving a table of eight to secure it with a credit card. If eight diners slated for a table that’s been set up for that many people simply don’t show up, the restaurant is put in a bind and may not be able to recover the business it steered elsewhere because of that expected crowd.

The restaurant deserves some kind of recompense — and whatever it charges that credit card, mind you, isn’t going to be as much as the party of eight would have spent. The restaurant is still going to lose in the end.

While I take offense at a few of the paces restaurants put us through — paces that seem to have as much to do with hauteur and psychological gamesmanship as with anything else — I think we all need to recognize that restaurants are businesses entitled to set certain rules. We, in turn, are entitled to decide that a given restaurant’s rules don’t meet our approval and to take our appetites elsewhere.

We all also need to behave in sensible, honorable ways, so that more restaurants aren’t forced to institute more rules, so that the dynamic between the employees and the customers of a restaurant isn’t a needlessly suspicious one.

As customers, we need not to make a half dozen reservations for the same night. We need to cancel reservations that we won’t be using. We need not to freak out if the wait for a reserved table is 10-minutes long, so that we can absolutely and appropriately freak out when it’s 40 minutes.

well said, i believe as a restaurantuer the front of the house game is rather important. It is very difficult to balance the restaurant to make it an enjoyable experience for every diner. The restaurants goal is to comfortably seat every diner and give them a memorable experience. This takes time and strategy, you do not want to push the staff to hard because you will only wind up giving mediocre service, and rushed food. Unfortunately, you also have to make money in the process. the balance between the two is a science that on any given night can be perfect, but at the same time, can also become a big problem depending on how you take reservations. Some restaurants can afford to penalize guests in the event of a cancellation because the overwhelming demand for a table at these places allows it. And with every right, the restaurant can lose money on these no shows. Masa will probably sell that table but it is not willing to allow no show reservations to become an issue. Until those diners can take responsibility for their reservations, this will always be an issue between restaurants and diners.

Frank–From out here on the left coast in LA, my recent restaurant experience from last night. I reserved a table for 6 at 6:30 pm at Ford’s Filling Station, a Bistro/Pub in Culver City, suing Opentable.com. At %:30 pm one of my friends cancelled so I called and lowered the reservation to 5, no problem, no sighs. Traffic from all points was horrendous and I was the first one there, 15 minutes late. The hostess didn’t say a word and asked if I would like to be seated by myself at our table and I said sure. The rest of my guys showed over the course of the next 15 mintues and we ordered drinks in waves. No hassles just pure accomodation, even though by 7:15 the place was packed full. The food and service were superb, truly a wonderful time, no rush to get us out either. We’ll definitely go back, and will try to be on time.

One thing you left out is that while restaurant can take a credit card as a guaranty, it is next to impossible to imnpose a charge on a credit card for a no show because the credit card company will reverse it in a flash. People know that very well.

“The restaurant deserves some kind of recompense — and whatever it charges that credit card, mind you, isn’t going to be as much as the party of eight would have spent. The restaurant is still going to lose in the end.”

That does not strike me as completely thought through. The restaurant is surely not going to recover what would have been the entire bill for a party of eight but, on the other had, they will have no food cost for that party, either, and there may be other (smaller) incidental expenses that they do not incur (linen cleaning, etc.). A restaurant that charges $25 per no-show diner may well recover much of the profit they would have made on that diner (that is, that diner’s entire bill less costs of food, staff, overhead, etc.).

The waitstaff, however, surely loses out on the tip on the no-show party’s bill.

Comment by Schneider – “… they will have no food cost for that party, either, and there may be other (smaller) incidental expenses that they do not incur (linen cleaning, etc.). A restaurant that charges $25 per no-show diner may well recover much of the profit they would have made on that diner (that is, that diner’s entire bill less costs of food, staff, overhead, etc.).”
The materials cost of running a restaurant is probably small compared to the cost of labor, rent, insurance, etc. – all of which have to be paid whether or not there are people filling the seats out front. And food is a perishable material. High end restaurants order fresh food every day. So the food cost becomes a fixed cost as well.

It’s really no different than running an airline – mostly fixed costs. And yet not many people object to airlines having non-refundable tickets. Not many people object to theaters not refunding tickets for missed performances. Why are restaurants viewed differently?

I am a bit shocked that in your opinion making multiple reservations is not a horrible thing as long as one is cancelled two days before. I think that the week you spent as a waiter in New England should be followed up as a week working as a General Manager’s asst.. I’ll have 400 reservations this evening, if half of those followed your thinking and a quarter ate somewhere else, how many calls do you think I will be getting for a table of four on a beautiful weekend to fill your table that you cancelled on a weekend in June? July Fourth Weekend? August? Labor Day Weekend? Jewish Holidays? And for that matter how about the guest who called five minutes before you cancelled your 8:30 reservation who was told that the only opening was 5:30 or 10:30. In my opinion your influence is tremendous in the dining world and your comment is totally irresponsible for that position and influence you have.

In a society that is so accustomed to doing everything possible at the last minute, and usually getting away with it, it isn’t terribly suprising that a rule for confiming a reservation 48 hours beforehand is viewed as an audacity. But perhaps we should focus on the fact that we are indeed procrastinating (and that taking 5 minutes out of the day to confirm a reservation really isn’t that big of a deal). Everyone’s time is vaulable, but we should not think that it is so vaulable that we cannot take care of the more necessary evils.

Frank Bruni: “I agree that it’s rude in the extreme to make multiple reservations and keep all of them in play until the last possible minute. But if it’s a matter of one excess reservation and that reservation is canceled two days beforehand, it doesn’t strike me as such a horrible thing.”

Let me give you a hypothetical that will demonstrate why this is such a problem:

Consider 10 people who what to take their fathers out for Father’s Day. Assume “Bruni’s Rule”: two restaurant reservations; one cancellation two days before. Each customer makes two reservations at two restaurants so they can give their dads his choice of which place to go to. Assume for arguments sake that these 2 restaurants each have 20 tables for a total of 40 seats. Those ten people, who in the end will only need 20 seats, have reserved all 40 seats until two days before Father’s day – Bruni’s Rule. I call up a week before and am told by every restaurant that they are fully booked for Father’s Day.

This leaves me, who wants to take my dad out too, with a problem. I can wait till two days before and try again hoping that I’ll be lucky to get one of the 20 canceled seats. Or I can hunt around for less desirable places, disappointing my dad was really wanted to go to one of the original places, in order to minimize my risk of having no place to go.

From the restaurant’s point of view, I know (because of Bruni’s Rule) that half of my seating, while reserved, will be canceled at the last minute. So my strategy is either 1) double my prices to everyone, 2) double book every table, 3) charge a fee for cancellations and no shows, 4) some combination of the first three.

So “Bruni’s Rule” ends up making everybody’s life miserable and end’s up hurting everyone in higher prices, lower customer service, higher risk for the business. The real world is never as neat as my example or “Bruni’s Rule.” People reserve places at more than two places and don’t cancel them, or cancel them at the last moment – so the situation is even chaotic than described. Is it any wonder that people who take reservations great callers with “sighs”?

considering most people in parties of 4 spend more on plane tickets then they do on dinner……whatever the restaurant needs to do to insure that people who make a reservation come and eat dinner and pay should be fine with me.

Why in the world would Maitre d’ #9 think that shiekers and crybabies are good for business? They are likely bad tippers, which hurts the waiters. They won’t come back anyway even if there were no credit card guaranty policy, because their game is all about “me me me”. As for mitch #3, card issuers know restuarant policies and don’t reverse charges on the buyer’s say-so alone — they always honor airlines’ and hotels’ various cancellation penalty policies. It is up to the restaurant to accept the no-show’s excuse and issue a credit.

Had 12 friends in town several months ago and set about making a reservation for a weekend night. Secured one, and eventually found a place closer to home and with a more informal setting. In the preparations for that evening (airports, phone calls, work, etc) I forgot to cancel the original reservation, which had incidentally been made for me by a friend. Sure enough, I had $160 on my credit card the following Monday. I was prepared to eat it but the friend who made the original reservation called and tried explaining. To my shock, they issued me a gift certificate for $110+ of the charged amount. Needless to say, I treated my friend to a sizable meal on the card and will definitely be recommending the restaurant to others. Perhaps overly generous on their part, but definitely a strong effort to keep the customer happy.

as I posted in another spot: how can you cancel if the phone line is continually busy with incoming calls for reservations? I reacently visited in SF and had reservations at French Laundry I became ill the am of the reservation. I spent two hours trying to phone in my cancellation so perhaps someone could take our table. After 2 hours, I gave up, went to bed and felt terrible to have been a no show(I’m midwestern with politeness gene) I would hate to be classified as a no show in someone’s computer because I was unable to get through their phone lines. If restaurants are going to be demanding, then they must provide extra phhone lines to handle their business properly

lswankel, I’m sorry you missed your dinner at the French Laundry. However, you should note for future use that it has a separate phone number to confirm reservations (different from the phone number to make reservations). I would be very surprised to hear that the confirmation number was busy for two hours.

Although obviously not the policy of every restaurant, I’ve worked at several where the cancellation fee was treated as a charge for a gift certificate, which was then issued to the person whose card was charged. It doesn’t give the restaurant any “extra” income to make up for the loss, unless of course the person doesn’t use the gift certificate, but it almost always ensures that the person comes in at a future time, or is at least reasonably happy about it.

We have a small, popular restaurant an hour or more drive from the “big city”. Walk ins are not in great abundance. When I call to confirm reservations I let our customers know that we have a waiting list for tables (which is true). This seems to install a sense of responsibility to show or cancel in a timely manner. In 8 years we’ve rarely had to deal with no shows.

As a former restaurant manager, I can tell you that nothing is more disheartening than not being able to accommodate diners with the reservations that they want and then being stuck with a half-empty room due to no-shows and late cancellations. And what makes it even worse when it happens, is that the diners who do show up look around at the empty room, assume business is off, and leave with a negative image. It\’s just polite to call and does get you better service when you decide to go back.

I really feel like fear of commitment is rampant in this city and people shouldn\’t have such a hard time deciding where to eat…

An alternative would be the current policy of several SF Bay Area restaurants. A per person charge (usually $25) is made for short notice cancellation and the customer is sent a “gift certificate” in that amount for a future meal…Good PR!